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Value area

The value area is the price range, grown outward from the point of control, that holds about 70% of the volume traded in the window. Ridge starts at the busiest bin and keeps the neighboring price that traded more, one bin at a time, until that share is covered.

Terrain shades that band and traces its edges. Prices inside it are where most of the trading happened. Prices outside it are away from that crowd. The Market Read prints the band as a range next to “Value Area”.

Thin ground is a different mark. A price counts as thin when the volume there is under 22% of the volume at the point of control, with busier trading on both sides, or when the live price is sitting in a thin stretch. Ridge then says “Price is on thin ground” or “Thin ground here”. It will not call that same price the busiest level.

“Price is above the crowd” and “Price is below the crowd” compare the live price with the point of control. “On busy ground” means the price is still in a heavy part of the profile. None of these lines say where price is going.

More

• Point of control

  The bin the value area grows from.

• Prism and Terrain

  How the shaded band is drawn.

See the value area on Terrain